140 PROP. HULL, LL.D., P.R.S., ON HOLY SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED AND 



5. 77*6 7'Gch under the dome of the " Mosque of Omarr My 

 last illustration will be taken from the Holy City — as it 

 once was — and from an object which possesses an interest 

 second to none amongst all the objects of immemorial interest 

 in Palestine. 



Some years ago when visiting Rome, and after wandering 

 for several days amongst the buildings and structures ancient 

 and modern of the once mistress of the world, I came to the 

 conclusion that amongst all these objects there was one 

 which stood out clear and distinct for its unique, historical 

 interest, and as a standing monument to the truth of pro- 

 phecy ; and that was the triumphal arch of Titus. Amongst 

 the objects in modern Jerusalem, that Avhich occupies a 

 similar position when 1 look back upon the whole scene, is 

 the " Holy Rock " beneath the beauteous dome of the so- 

 called " Mosque of Omar." 



Whatever doubt there may be regarding the site of tlie 

 Crucifixion, whether in the traditional spot near the so-called 

 Church of the Holy Sepulchre, or, as seems more likely, out- 

 side the northern wall of the modern city, there can be none 

 regarding the history of this boss of native limestone rock, 

 which rises amidst so much that is of human art. It is the 

 natural summit of Mount IMoriah, Avhich, though doubtless 

 somewhat "disfigured by hard treatment and rough chiselling" 

 (as stated by Sir Charles Wilson), yet is, to all intents and 

 purposes, the same which witnessed several remarkable events 

 in Jewish history, dating from its earliest commencement to 

 its close. Let us for a moment glance at these events in 

 the order of their succession. 



Abram doubtless caught sight of the summit of Mount 

 Moriah as he journeyed towards the plains of Mamre ; but the 

 first recorded event was the intended sacrifice of his son 

 Isaac "on one of the mountains which the Lord would point 

 out to him in the land of Moriah." By this event the mount 

 became ever after hallowed to his descendants ; this was 

 about the year 1872 B.C. The distance from the plain of 

 Mamre or Hebron is about twenty-one miles, or two days' jour- 

 ney on foot, thus corresponding to "the third day" (Gen. xxii, 

 4), on which the top of the mount came into view. 



Passing down more than eight hundred years we again 

 recognize this mount as the spot where by the Divine direc- 

 tion David reared an altar to make atonement for his pre- 

 sumption in numbering the people and to avert the plague 

 from Jerusalem. The rock was then the threshing floor of 



